"Where... the hell am I?"
That classic question popped into my mind the moment I regained consciousness. My surroundings were completely white. Not just a normal white, but a sparkling, shimmering white, like someone had scattered diamonds everywhere.
Countless orbs of light with eyes, resembling spirits, drifted toward a magnificent golden door radiating holy light in the far distance... Ah, those must be the gates of heaven.
This place must be the spirit realm, the waiting room before heading to heaven or hell... something like that, right?
So why was I the only one going against the flow? I was plummeting straight into a pitch-black abyss that looked unimaginably sinister. A massive gravitational pull was dragging me down.
Hey, hey... is this the way to hell? Seriously?
As much as I wanted to scream and thrash about, my body (or what was left of it) refused to cooperate. It felt weightless, elastic, just drifting along the current like a helpless tuft of cotton.
Come on... look on the bright side. Maybe hell isn't that bad. Who knows, there might be cute grim reaper girls, or just nicer people than in the Demon Realm I came from. That place was brutally savage. You could get robbed just walking down the street, get your throat slit in your sleep, or get dragged off and subjected to unspeakable horrors... Just talking about it brings a tear to my eye. The life of a Demon God isn't easy, you know!
Swoosh!
My idle thoughts were cut short as my soul plunged through the black hole. But the scorching heat I had braced myself for never came...
What appeared before my eyes was a vibrant blue sky and fluffy white clouds... A pristine white that the Demon Realm, choked by toxic smog for centuries, would never see as long as the Demon King sat on the throne.
It was obvious... This wasn't the Demon Realm.
My soul drifted down through the clouds as gently as a feather. The scenery below gradually came into focus.
It was a human city.
Houses built from stone and dull clay were packed tightly together. On one side, a colossal castle stood tall, surrounded by luxurious mansions where nobles sipped tea in manicured gardens. Cut to the other corner of the city... a depressing slum area, looking like a forgotten garbage dump. Emaciated people shuffled about like the walking dead.
And that mysterious gravitational pull was dragging me straight toward a rotting wooden shack in that very district.
Phasing through the dilapidated roof... I saw the figure of a middle-aged man.
He looked utterly pathetic. Skinny enough to count his ribs, skin scorched by the sun, and a scruffy, unkempt beard. His eye sockets were bruised and swollen, like he'd just been beaten to a pulp. He was standing on an old chair, his neck resting inside a noose tied to the ceiling beam.
Wow... Arriving right in the middle of a suicide scene, huh?
A cloudy white mass, like faint smoke, was sluggishly drifting out of the guy's nose... That must be his soul. This guy is dying, and I... I'm getting sucked in to replace him!
I get it... It's a classic transmigration possession!
The owner of the body looks a bit hopeless, but whatever! I don't know what kind of messed-up shit you've been through, but as a great Demon God, I swear I'll make the most of your body! I'll turn your life into a legend!
I braced myself, ready to dive in and take over. But just as the guy's soul was halfway out...
Suddenly, the old man's eyes caught sight of a two-tailed lizard clinging to the ceiling beam.
His despairing eyes snapped wide open, flashing with a sudden spark of life.
"Wait... two tails... that translates to the number two... Actually, no! Let's bet on a different number this draw. My luck might not have run out just yet!"
Huh...?
The guy yanked his neck out of the noose and hopped down from the chair, suddenly as cheerful as a completely different person. His soul, which had been on the verge of leaving, snapped right back into his body.
Hey! Wait a damn minute!!
I couldn't brake in time! My soul, hurtling forward at high speed, essentially 'missed the curve'. I violently veered off course because my target had vanished.
Fwoosh!
I plummeted straight through the rotting wooden floorboards of the shack, phasing through layers of dirt and solid rock, sinking deep into the subterranean depths. Darkness and dampness instantly replaced the light.
I had no idea how deep I went, but eventually, the momentum carried me to a halt inside a massive underground burrow.
A nauseating, gamey stench hung heavy in the air. Right in front of me was a small mountain of cloudy, spherical objects... Eggs.
Fist-sized eggs with soft, squishy, repulsive shells. They were piled up in a writhing mass, looking exactly like the nest of some monster or giant insect.
And... yeah.
Without missing a beat, my soul shot forward and fused with one of the eggs in the pile, as accurately as if I'd been placed there by hand.
A suffocating, cramped, and damp sensation enveloped me... And then, my consciousness faded to black, perfectly setting the stage for the absolute disaster awaiting me.